PART 4 OF 100 YEARS IN SANDSTONE

 1898: Two freight trains crashed head on in Eastern Railway yards in Sandstone, both engines badly damaged; Minnesota Sandstone Company turned out 75,000 paving blocks a month; Eastern Railway built 24x48 foot ice house near tracks between depot and boiler house; Quarry strike settled; Log drives delayed due to low river levels; Sandstone Fire Department organized; Lighting struck Presbyterian Church steeple.

1899:Alexander Bull, son of Ole Bull, played his father's violin at Opera Hall; Independent Order of Odd Fellow's building completed on corner of Third Street and Main Street with store below and hall upstairs; Village marshal salary set at $25 a month; Quarry employed 500 men; Catholic Church bazaar raised $1,100 for cunstruction of new church; 100 trees planted on west side of Main Street; 1000 telephone poles installed between villages of Sandstone, Pine City, Banning and Finlayson 

1900: Diphtheria epidemic; New Catholic Church built on Commercial Avenue; Sandstone Telephone Company did booming business; 138 students enrolled in three-room school; Outbreak of typhoid fever blamed on village water supply; Governor John Lind visited quarry; Hinckley Township divided into 16 townships, Village of Sandstone became part of Sandstone Township

1901: Sandstone Masonic Lodge chartered; 10-room Sandstone School, with 400-Capacity assembly hall, completed at cost of $30,000; Walter Scott & Co. held grand opening; Small pox patients quarantined; Local telephone switchboard move Fillet's Jewelry Store, Sunday and night service added; Village bought old school for village hall; Dutch Reformed Church dedicated; Colonel Willam H. Grant died

1902: 600 men employed at quarry; 33 phone in Sandstone; Sandstone Order of Eastern Star chartered; Quarrymen's State Bank, the first state bank in Pine county, incorporated; Literary Club sponsored "Passion Play", Six teachers instructed 274 students; 25 million feet of logs passed through Sandstone dam from Banning during season; Dr. D. W. Cowan elected to Minnesota Senate

1903: High School added to curriculum; New free public library opened with 300 books; 351 enrolled in school; Blacksmith's and wagon maker's organized; Kettle River Quarries Company organized $300,000 capital stock; Jepsen & Shute opened livery business; Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra furnished music for Easter dance sponsored by Fire Departmental Opera Hall; Fire Department acquired hook and ladder truck, fire bell hung in village hall; Diphtheria outbreak blamed on unsanitary village water; New jail built

1904: International Order of good Templars had over 100 members in circles: Law and Order League unnecessary with new village administration; Sandstone Land Company experimented thawing frozen hydrants with electricity; Sandstone Fire Department fought over 40 fires last winter; Movement to organize State Militia in Sandstone, Finish Temperance Society organized with 182 members; Sandstone Bottling Works opened in old saloon building near roundhouse; Sandstone Gun Club installed automatic traps; Lawn Tennis Club organized; Dancing pavilion built on Charles Sjolinder place east of town; A band of gypsies camped near Glasgow's hill; Foxy Gramps, Sandstone first baseball nine, played Peerless Club before a crowd of 300